


Like Real Life, Only Smaller

by runningondreams



Category: Avengers (Comics), Marvel 616
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-17 13:36:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16975560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/runningondreams/pseuds/runningondreams
Summary: Tony's doing experiments in the lab when Steve interrupts him with an invitation.





	Like Real Life, Only Smaller

**Author's Note:**

> My fic entry for the @capim-tinybang round JUSTICE and [this utterly adorable art by selofain](http://capim-tinybang.tumblr.com/post/127855675745/title-slipping-out-to-play-artist-selofain-link) way back in 2015. I realized it was one of the few fics I hadn't cross-posted here, so that's fixed now.

Mini-Doom and his teeny-bots have taken over the main workbench again. The mini-Avengers stand ready to face him, Cap and Iron Man flanked by Thor and Wasp, with Captain Marvel and Spider Woman hovering above them. Spider Man clings to a lamp. Clint seems to be having trouble reaching the tabletop. Tony makes a note to improve the stickiness of mini-Hawkeye's grappling lines. Real-Clint would probably not be having this problem.

Mini-Thor notices his comrade's predicament and retrieves him, just as the teeny-bots surge forward.

“Tony?”

It's Steve, has to be. Everyone else is out for the night. _Steve_ was supposed to be out, some kind of VA thing in Brooklyn. But Steve's also the only person that would actually use the intercom _before_ trying the door handle.

“Door's open, Cap!” Tony calls over his shoulder. He makes another note. Captain Marvel's flight is unsteady, he should check her over before the next scenario. 

“Sorry to bother you,” Steve's saying, his steps getting closer as Spider Man glues two teeny-bots together and pushes them off the table. “I know you weren't expecting—What's all this?”

“Training scenario,” Tony says. He pulls mini-Wolverine out of the box at his feet and turns it on. The battle is starting to spill off the edges of the workbench now, spreading across the floor of the lab in little knots of conflict. The estimated property damage is ticking up steadily. They'll have to work on that.

“You're running a training scenario?” Steve stops next to Tony's chair—he's still wearing his motorcycle jacket, Tony notes. He must've come straight from the garage. “With—with miniature robots of the team?”

Tony shrugs. “It's cheaper than rebuilding the holo-room whenever Carol punches through a wall or Peter webs the projectors or Logan slices through some wiring.”

Mini-Wolverine manages to give him a condescending look before jumping into the fray.

Steve stoops to peer into the box. He picks up mini-Namor and turns him over in his hands.

“Did you _make_ these?” he asks.

“Of course.” Tony spares a moment from studying the battle to shoot him a puzzled look. “You think they sell customized mini-robots at the store?”

“Are they AI?” Steve eyes mini-Namor suspiciously, as if might spring to action and bite him.

“No, it's just condition-based programming.” Tony gestures at the burgeoning chaos. Spider Woman and Captain Marvel are punching Doom bots with great efficiency while Wasp hovers tauntingly just out of Doom's reach. Mini-Cap takes a swan dive off the top of the bench and Iron Man catches him six inches from the floor. Hawkeye and Spider Man exchange a high-five on a pile of teeny-bots.

“Okay, so I programmed in some personality too,” Tony admits.

“Did the Thor one just call lightening?” Steve asks.

“I tried to duplicate the powers I could,” Tony waves a hand dismissively. “It's not much of a shock, but it's enough for the bots.”

Steve watches the scene for a moment, still crouched over box of little figures. His hair's mussed, from wind, not a helmet, which means he was feeling more reckless than Tony'd thought before he left. Maybe he should've offered to go along. Restlessness was not a good state for Steve. It tended to lead to brooding and even longer workouts than usual.

“This is amazing.” Steve smiles up at him. “Are you going to show the team?”

“Hadn't really thought about it,” Tony tells him, which isn't _entirely_ true. There are just a few more bugs to work out before they'll be ready for a team meeting presentation. Case in point—

“What's the tub of dinosaurs for?” Steve asks as Captain Marvel, Spider Woman and Wolverine pitch head-first over the rim.

“The Savage Land,” Tony sighs. “I'm not sure why they keep ending up there, but it happens a good fifty percent of the time.” There isn't even a reason for it in the code. Not that he's been able to find anyway.

Mini-Cap taps on the clear side of the tub and waves at his struggling teammates. Mini-Iron Man, Thor, and Wasp hover anxiously over the shifting plastic forms. None of the bots ever got _hurt_ by crashing into the inanimate toys, but they always seemed to have a hard time getting out again.

Mini-Doom has taken shelter under the couch, just the edge of his cape indicating his location. Tony mentally designates that as Latveria for all future-battle-geography purposes.

“So, what brings you back so early, Cap? I thought you'd planned to be out for a while yet.”

Steve sets mini-Namor back in the box and shrugs. “Got done earlier than expected, thought you might want some company.” He quirks a smile. “Little did I know, you had plenty of that already.”

Which probably means _Steve_ wants company. At least that's something Tony can readily provide.

“They're easy enough to put away, if you've got something in mind.”

The fight's pretty much over at this point. Mini-Doom has quit the field, and without him the teeny-bots are as likely to wander in circles as actually attack anything.

“Wanna go for a ride?” Steve looks up, then looks away again, hunches his shoulders and licks his lips. “It's a nice night. We could get out of the city, find somewhere quiet to be for a while.”

“Steve Rogers, are you suggesting we go _parking?_ ” Tony presses one hand to his chest in mock outrage. “Whatever will the press say? Such deviance.”

“We'll just have to make sure they don't find out then, won't we.” Steve grins at him, sly in a way Tony's positive no one's ever been able to capture on camera.

“Flying would be faster,” he offers, but Steve just tilts his head and hums, noncommital. Right then. Motorcycle it is. As if Tony would really turn down the chance to plaster himself to Steve's back while moving at high speeds.

“Let just get these guys put away and I'll find my helmet,” he says, because _Steve_ may have total confidence in his ability to avoid crashing at 70 miles-per-hour but Tony is fond of his brain.

“I'll help,” Steve offers, turning back to the mess of teeny-bots littering the floor.

“Get the Avengers,” Tony directs him, tossing the nearest teeny-bot into a scrap-box. Most of them will need to be repaired anyway. “The off switch is on the bottom of the feet.”

By the time he's tracked down the last of the spindly little bot legs and dragged Doom out from under the couch, Steve's got the rest of the minis nestled back in their box. He's still holding the Cap and Iron Man figures, one in each hand.

“Alright there, Cap?” Tony asks.

“I wasn't sure where to put them,” Steve says, “there wasn't a label for them.” And Tony can feel the back of his neck heating, because it's silly, it's sentimental and cheesy, but he just couldn't quite stop himself.

“They go up there.” He nods at the shelf over the bank of filing cabinets. A perch that had a clear line-of-sight for most of the lab. Not that miniature robots needed a place with a _view_ but.. well, putting them in a box with the others had felt strange. And they were the two he used for code-testing, the first ones he'd finished.

He'd sworn to himself he wasn't going to build a mansion for the things. Thus far, at least, he's been successful.

Steve doesn't seem to notice his embarrassment; he just sets the figures gently on the shelf and nudges them back from the edge a little.

Tony pushes the scraps and the box with the rest of the minis under the workbench and stretches his back a bit.

“What's the weather like?” he asks, heading for the door.

“You're going to want a jacket,” Steve tells him, following. “Also, real shoes.”

Tony bumps his shoulder and takes his hand. “Are we talking normal human jacket weather or super soldier jacket weather?”

“Tony.”

“It's an important distinction!”

“How about—” Steve leans closer, “if you get cold, I promise to warm you up,” he says against Tony's ear. Tony can't quite stop the shiver slipping down his spine.

“You make a compelling argument,” he agrees. The lab door shuts behind them with a soft snick of the lock. “I'm not sure I'm entirely convinced, though. Please, continue,” he quips, and Steve chuckles, warm and genuine, and kisses him for a long, soft moment that leaves Tony feeling pleasantly warm all over.

“Better?” Steve asks.

“Is suppose your terms are acceptable,” Tony allows, grinning at him.

“Good,” Steve leans in for another quick kiss and then leads him down the hall by the hand. “Let's go then. The night won't last forever."


End file.
